The Spice Girls aren't heading south for the winter. Or east, for that matter.
The comeback quintet announced Friday that their world tour will wrap later this month and that dates in China, Australia, South Africa and Argentina have been canceled.
Instead, they will sign off Feb. 26 in Toronto, the official Spice City, as decided by fans who voted online for their favorite girl-powered metropolis. They are also scheduled to play the Air Canada Center on Sunday and Monday.
"Sadly, the tour needs to come to an end by the end of February due to family and personal commitments for Emma, Geri, Mel B, Melanie C and Victoria," the ladies said in a statement on their website.
"We've had such an amazing time over the past three months. It's been incredible being back together and seeing our fans again. We want to thank everyone who came to see us. It was all so mad the first time round, so we've really been able to appreciate it properly this time…Really sorry if we didn't get to see you this time round."
While reports of only mild interest in the Girls in Beijing, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires are rumored to be behind the change of plans, the Spice Girls' camp put a decidedly sunnier spin on the detour, which was originally necessary in order to schedule extra London dates.
"Due to the phenomenal demand for tickets in the U.K. and the U.S. along with the touring logistics for such a massive production, it was not possible to fit everything in," a message on their website said. "As the girls return to normal family life (lacing David Beckham's cleats, and whatnot) and the kids go back to school, they are reviewing all the options. Who knows what the future might bring!"
Well, the present brought the pop stars oodles, including a combined $23 million in proceeds from their 17-night run at London's O2 Center, a rep for the venue told the Evening Standard last week.
"Not many groups can sell out 17 gigs at 75 pounds ($149) a ticket, it's quite an achievement," the source said.
The Spice Girls' reunion officially kicked off Dec. 2 in front of a packed house in Vancouver, a few weeks after they serenaded the crowd at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Hollywood's Kodak Theater.
It was Halliwell's first time performing with the group since 1998, when she up and left not long before they were set to embark on the North American leg of their world tour in support of Spice World, which has sold over 10 million copies.
And despite the supposedly lackluster sales in the Southern Hemisphere, plenty of Aussies were peeved about the lack of Spice in their life.
"I think we all saw this coming months ago. Wouldn't the smart thing to have done be to tour in cities that have yet to see the girls...once again we miss out!" one fan wrote on an Australian MSN message board. "Unless plans are announced to tour the remaining countries sometime later in the year, I can't see their image faring better than that of selfishly money-hungry."
"The worst part of it all is everyone involved certainly knew what was going to happen; the least they could have done was to let us all know a month or two ago so that maybe a few of us die-hard fans could have made arrangements to possibly make the trip to one of the shows—it is all ridiculously disappointing," wrote another would-be concertgoer.